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Sponsored Profile
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Rafe Wilkinson |
Asking More, Giving More
The uniformed security business is afflicted by constant turnover. Rafe Wilkinson at Old Dominion Security keeps employees motivated by treating them like professionals and setting higher expectations.
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Robert
Simmons, a security guard with Old Dominion Security
Company, will never forget the day he found out that his
baby girl had leukemia. When he shared the devastating
news with his boss, Rafe Wilkinson, he recalls, “The
first thing that came from Rafe was, ‘What can we do
for you?’ … He understood that I needed to be with
my family. He said to take as much time as I needed,
that he would find someone to cover for me.” The
uniformed guard industry is not known for its stellar
human resource practices. Most guards are ill paid,
poorly trained, shabbily treated and unmotivated. The
typical guard lasts in his job about four months. But
Simmons has defied the odds. He’s worked with the
company nearly six years now, including a year and a
half since Wilkinson and his wife Amy bought the
company. Simmons
deserves much of the credit for his longevity. A former
ambulance driver, he is polite and conscientious, and he
has a strong work ethic. With personal interests like
model-car building, singing in the church choir and
teaching Bible studies, the 42-year-old father of three
is the kind of employee any company would love to have
on its payroll. But Simmons also credits Wilkinson. He
knew things would be different, Simmons says, when
Wilkinson took over the company. The new boss came out
to the job site – during the Old
Dominion’s business model is to recruit and retain
more employees like Robert Simmons. Competing in an
industry that chews up employees and spits them out,
Rafe Wilkinson treats employees with respect, invests
more in their training, pays them better than the
industry average and recognizes outstanding performance.
As a result, turnover at Old Dominion in the “With
us, the client is getting a guard who better understands
how the client likes to have things done,” Wilkinson
explains. Written rules cover only a fraction of the
knowledge the guards need to know to operate
effectively. It takes time for guards to learn the
client’s property, remember names and faces, and
master the client’s processes and routines. “When
someone leaves, 90 percent of what they know walks out
the door with them. By cutting down on turnover, you
limit a lot of that knowledge going out of the door.” Uniformed
security is a tough business, but Wilkinson seems bred
for the part. A A
serial entrepreneur, Wilkinson first made his mark at
J&R, a chain of convenience stores in the The
uniformed guard business, says Wilkinson, is all about
managing people. Based on his experience at J&R, he
realized that the most frustrating problem in the
security industry – massive turnover -- represented a
business opportunity. If he could figure out how to
motivate his guards, he could reduce turnover, improve
service and grow market share. The
uniformed security industry is crying out for change.
The business is dominated by two types of companies: the
corporate giants and the mom-and-pop shops. The giants
have one main advantage: Many companies with facilities
in different cities prefer to work with a single vendor
with a national footprint. The drawback, notes
Wilkinson, is that the big companies staff their
regional offices with mid-level supervisors and tangle
them in bureaucratic rules. If a customer has a problem,
it’s impossible to get the CEO on the phone. By
contrast, the little guys may be responsive, but,
strapped for time and resources, they tend not to be
very business savvy or consistent. Paychecks are
notorious for coming late or being incorrect; work
schedules tend to be unreliable. Old
Dominion Security stands between the two extremes. As a
mid-sized firm – it employs 365 uniformed security
officers and loss-prevention officers -- the company
combines the business management skills of the big guys
with the hands-on service of the little guys. So far,
it’s proven to be a winning formula. Wilkinson lists
among his clients Infineon Technologies, Media General,
Mary Washington Health Systems, Kroger, Bear Island
Paper Company, the State Fair of Virginia, the Richmond
International Raceway and many more in While
uniformed security remains Old Dominion’s core
business, Wilkinson also sees the potential to spin off
his
Old
The
Academy does more than teach Old Dominion employees how
to be security guards: It instills a sense of pride and
professionalism. Joining the company entails agreeing to
a pact, Wilkinson explains. Old Dominion sets the
performance bar higher than other companies. It demands
more from its employees. In return, it also invests more
in them than other security services companies. At
the heart of the Old Dominion philosophy are “five
core principles”:
Most
employees embrace the five principles. Those who don’t
get weeded out quickly. The
Academy represents only the beginning of the training
process, especially for employees, like Simmons, who
demonstrate a willingness to take on more
responsibility. At a lot of companies, notes Wilkinson,
people end up as supervisors simply because “they’re
the last ones left standing.” Old Dominion is
proactive, continually seeking to identify supervisory
talent inside the organization through its Management
Resource Review. “We feed people new challenges. We
feed them slowly. We test them, and they test us. If
they excel, they work their way up the ladder.” Not
every employee has management potential, but the company
takes pains to keep everyone motivated. Old Dominion
pays attention to little things, like paying the guards
on time, keeping their paychecks straight, and handing
out awards, recognitions and bonuses for good
performance. Every employee, insists Wilkinson, should
be treated with dignity. The
Old Dominion philosophy is paying off. The company was
recognized as a finalist in the Employer of Choice award
presented in May by the Richmond Human Resources
Management Association – an unprecedented recognition
for a uniformed guard company. Perhaps
the greatest challenge for Wilkinson will be managing
success. As the company grows, it will be increasingly
difficult for him to maintain a personal connection with
every employee. It’s amazing, says Jeff Cathcart, the
The
answer, says Wilkinson, is to find good people who share
the same philosophy. He delayed moving into the
Raleigh-Durham market, for instance, until he found Cathcart, a man
with years of accomplishment and experience who
whole-heartedly bought into the program from the Five
Principles on down. Cathcart had spent 10 years in the
U.S. Navy, another 12 years in local law enforcement,
and then several years as personal bodyguard and head of
security for Pat Robertson, the television evangelist. He’d
had the chance to observe other private security
companies, Cathcart says, and they didn’t much appeal
to him. “It was a revolving door. Officers came in and
[the security companies] paid them as little as
possible. They put them in a uniform without giving them
any coaching or mentoring.” But
Old Dominion was different, Cathcart says. “This is a
company that cares about its employees. … Most people
just want to be treated like somebody, and be given a
chance to excel. Old Dominion treats people right.”
-- June 16, 2004
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Contact Rafe Wilkinson...
Call (804) 521-7897
or e-mail him at rafe@olddominion
Spread the word...
If you would like to sponsor a profile of your company on VA Newswire, contact the publisher at jim@vanewswire or by calling (804) 873-1543. | ||||||||||||||
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